Week 1 (Year 2, NL)

When you grow up with a grandmother who insists that you thank the hens every time you gather their eggs, gratitude becomes second nature.

In a culture that finds repentance unintelligible, impractical, or unnecessary, we are called to witness to its intelligibility, beauty, and importance.

I have lived in the U.S. for nearly three years now, and there is so much to love: the beauty and the grandeur of the landscape, the welcome and hospitality I’ve found in one city after another, and so many new friends.

But there is one thing I don’t love so much.

At first, Mandy was hesitant to come to the children's moment. Before long, some people thought she had become too comfortable in worship.

I once saw children's ministry as a steppingstone to something else. This attitude put me in league with the hindering kind of disciples.

Today’s Gospel lesson, though not a traditional baptismal text, embodies the spirit of the sacrament: the ones bringing the children to Jesus are not necessarily parents; they are “people” moved to care for these little ones. This choice of language leads us to ask, if the adults bringing the children to Jesus are not their parents, then who are they? Why do these men and women stand up to the disciples for the sake of children that are not biologically theirs?

What might God have to say about the creatures most people don’t think of as lovable?

Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed. If only we could respond so quickly.

The first Sunday of Lent is the best time of the year to talk about sin. Many people in the church, especially the mainline church, are stuck when it comes to the overlap of sin and sensuality. No one really wants to be the pastor who comes over all judgmental about sex.

The serpent was right: when Eve and Adam ate the fruit, they did not die; they saw more clearly.

How to approach Jesus' strict teaching about divorce and remarriage as it appears in Mark's Gospel, without the somewhat more lenient amendments of Matthew and Paul?

If it were me, I would have stayed in the fishing boat or dithered about what to do until Jesus was just a speck on the horizon.

Marriage does not exist only for companionship or procreation or complementarity. It has a cruciform shape, like other ascetical practices, and is a transformative experience for the two individuals. In marriage, God intends not only to alleviate human loneliness but to effect human salvation.